I have a followup question. Are elites supposed to be spawning in A9 Omerta?

Started a new game, and after clearing the sector of regulars and admins (victory music, all mercs stand up, history update, etc.) i couldn't give the letter to Fatima, the game just locked up.
I found out that group of several elites spawned on the map despite no hostile sector indication on strategic. I'm playing SDO with default maps.

Thats right! No crash log only exit to desktop and mesage jagged alliance 2 has stopped working . Alo using gog version of ja2! Also tried cd version again same results! Tried to enter few other sectors works fine, only a10! Also copyed a10 map file from SDO scalin loot dir in sdo map dir of wf maps without of random lots again crash while loadin sector! Copied a10 map file from SDO wf default maps to sdo scalin loot map folder and sector loaded normaly, tried to enter rebel hideout loaded normaly , so i think problem is in a10 map file!

Simply check Items.xml and search for "Swat Vest". The "" of the item is what you are looking for.

OK did that but now i have the image of a cut of head with the properties of a treated swat vest. additionally the vest gets boosted by 5 points instead of the regular 2. Furthermore there is no description anymore.

That's probably the reason why there was no merge in the first place. There simply is no graphic for a Treated Swat Vest and probably other items as well.
Unless someone creates the graphics and updates the STI and Items.xml there is not much use in the merges.

Would it be possible to buff the 7.62 NATO battle rifles slightly?
They were already a somewhat sub-optimal choice in stock NCTH and now their accuracy has been significantly lowered, their recoil is even worse while the 5.56 ARs recieved a boost they didn't really need.

Also would it be possible to decrease the influence of DEX on the CTH in the future?
I've seen similar suggestions asked before, and I know they're dismissed, but it dex being a big influence seems contrary to the original merc designs.

For example: Hitman, Grizzly or similar low dex but high mrk used to mean they're bad at "menial" assignments but good shooters, while with NCTH they're kind of crappy at both.

Ira's, Razor's, Maddog's etc. shooting (high dex, low mrk - bad shooters with a supposedly "support" role) is only slightly worse than theirs,
but they surpass them quickly because mrk is much easier to naturally raise than dex.

I don't know the exact NCTH formulas, only speaking from experience, but it looks like the MRK stat is devalued for no good reason.

Maybe up their accuracy slightly if anything?
They're slow firing so if you're going to use them for long range single shots you might as well be using a dedicated 7.62 DMR (which got the same damage/penetration increase),
and for typical AR ranges you're better off just sticking to a 5.56 weapon or an LMG because they fire faster and are much more controllable.

Do I have to start a new game to test the changes to the CTHConstants.ini?
Also, would changing the calculation ratios affect the enemy's CHT in a major way? I don't want to unintentionally cripple them.

checked the options ini. the setting was on "all mercs at your disposal. nobody goes on any other assignment than yours" just like I set it in the ini editor. do i have to start a new game for these options to take effect?

;Mercs can be on assignment?
; 0 = default behaviour, mercs are on assignment at start, mercs go on assignment during campaign
; 1 = all mercs available at the start of the game, during the campaign they will go on assignment
; 2 = all mercs at your disposal. nobody goes on any other assignment than yours
MERCS_CAN_BE_ON_ASSIGNMENT = 0

The part of it that it says to only work at gamestart only works at gamestart. After that it is checked daily wether a merc goes on a new assignment, which takes the setting into account.

I don't think there is an ini to stop them. What could be possible is that there is a patrol path defined in TableData\Army\PatrolGroups.xml. This would be specific to SDO as I don't think default 1.13 has such a path.

ok I am going to share what i have found out over the the past 6 hours of trial an error. the wildfire maps change from game to game. that means: sometimes you will get different looking sector maps. i guess there are 3 different map layouts. on one layout enemy troops do not respect the san mona borders. i have absolutely no idea why this is the case. i recall this also happening 10 years ago when i first played the retail wildfire version. i guess that was wf 6.04?

The problem is that with default values there's nearly no difference if you shoot standing or prone, or if you are using bipod for sniper shots or not, and there definitely should be significant difference.

I think that the AIM_DRAW_COST should be increased to at least 1 or 2, and AIM_STANDING_STANCE could be increased to smth like 2, but this change can break NCTH balance somewhere else, so some testing needed.